Nobody's Sons
by AlbatrossQueen
Summary: AU; Sebastian's a nerd and has been transferred to prep school because of being bullied, and he's just meet his two new roommates, an overly cheerful boy named Jeff, and Hunter, a military school reject whose a year behind because of his behavior and his domineering attitude towards other students. It's going to be a long year.
1. Chapter 1

AU; Sebastian's a nerd and has been transferred to prep school because of being bullied, and he's just meet his two new roommates, an overly cheerful boy named Jeff, and Hunter, a military school reject whose a year behind because of his behavior and his domineering attitude towards other students. It's going to be a long year.

.

Sebastian wasn't sure how he felt about getting stuck in a triple room part-way through a school year. He was certain the other two already there, a Hunter P. Clarington and a Jeffery R. Sterling if his papers were correct, would probably be less than thrilled about such an awkward new addition into their lives. Because the thing was, Sebastian _was _awkward. At least here he'd have a uniform and not have to wear whatever over-priced and nonsensical outfit his parents threw at him. Because none of that was really _him, _it was just stuff that had been bought for him. And that ruined whatever effect it otherwise might have had on making him look more than halfway decent.

Because he knew he looked decent.

Until he started talking. Then he looked like an idiot.

He also currently felt like an idiot which didn't help, lost and alone in a school he'd never been to, dropped off at the front door like he knew anything besides how to get to the office, where all they'd done was hand him a map and some papers and sent him on his way. He only even found his room because he'd rather literally turned a corner too fast and run into a kid named Nick who was apparently friends with Jeff. Whichever one of them Jeff was going to be.

He shifted his over-sized duffel bag on his shoulder and slowly opened the door. It was empty. Sweet relief. Scuttling into the room he shut the door behind himself and paused. He hadn't brought much, just two bags, one of which was mostly his lacrosse stuff which he wasn't even sure he'd need, and the other the few personal belongings he cared about, but the room already looked like it didn't have space for him. There were three beds sure, a bunk bed and a single, but Sebastian wasn't seeing anything beyond that to indicate three people could actually fit in here.

He didn't have any classes today, he didn't know anyone, and his roommates were missing so he couldn't even unpack. But he felt, for some other reason, agitated. Like something was wrong with the air. He sighed and sat on the lower bunk bed. He figured it had to be his anyway – the top one had stuff strewn on it, and the single bed was so anally-retentively neat it _had _to belong to someone.

He pulled out his computer and flicked Skype on.

_- Blaine: Offline_

_- Quinn: Offline_

_- Parents (&Jett): Offline_

He let it idol in the background as he did some other things, paperwork for the school and whatever else he'd need filed away for tomorrow. He almost didn't hear the door open nearly an hour later. He turned his head, glasses near-threatening to fall off his face, and found a tall, skinny blond with Nick behind him and some other, slightly shorter male behind the both of them with a face carved out of a rock with mossy brown hair.

"Nick, you lied, he's way past kind of cute." The blond nearly _bounced _over to him. "Hi I'm Jeff, you must be Sebastian. Can we call you Seb?"

"Er."

Nick appeared behind Jeff again, hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, he can be a lot to handle sometimes."

"Really? Sounds like he's fine with how you handle him, Nick."

"Hunter!" Jeff squeaked back.

_Oh, ok, awkward. _Sebastian thought. He knew he wasn't straight, probably not even remotely. But he wasn't so used to having that kind of information dumped on him so openly. Public schools could be kinda harsh.

"Smythe's fine." Sebastian said. It's what most people had called him before anyway.

"Ugh, you're nearly as bad as _Clarington _over there already and you haven't even meet yet. Hunter, would it kill you to cross the room and say hello?"

Hunter's face twitched. Interesting.

"It might, Sterling." He said, turning and standing so much in Sebastian's personal space he wondered how that was even possible considering Jeff was partly between the two of them, and Sebastian was also sitting down.

"Hunter Peterson Clarington, Dalton Academy, Former Cadet, Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Kitty Hawk Air Society."

Sebastian's head tilted, "That would explain why you smell like a cat."

Jeff snorted and turned slightly away, Hunter seemed to be unsure weather to glare more at Jeff, or at him, and Nick seemed to be trying not loose it completely tucked in his little corner.

"And that," Hunter said, stalking over his his side of the room, "is why I'm not friends with such people."

"Oh come on," Jeff said, "you're friends with me. It's one remark. One _funny_ remark. Get over it."

And Sebastian wondered how Jeff didn't turn to stone under the look Hunter shot him. He was pretty sure he couldn't breath and it wasn't even directed at him.

" 'Bas," Nick said, drawing his attention, "do you want a tour? Jeff and I can take you around, if you're not busy."

Sebastian smiled, "Might be good to get away from Mr. Puss over there."

At that moment though, Sebastian felt something connect with the back of his skull, and he was falling before he was even completely up. Everything was sort of fuzzy, though he was sure that was more from loosing his glasses and being disoriented and anything worse or concussive.

Though he was dead certain, somewhere behind him Jeff was screaming at Hunter.

###

"Hunter, you're suppose to be nice."

"Maybe I don't want to be."

"Well can you not, you know, do the you know what with other people around?"

Silence.

"_Hunter_."

"Leave it alone Sterling, I can control myself."

###

"Sebastian?"

Sebastian heard his name hovering somewhere to his vague right, and tried to look up. He squinted. It looked like it was probably Nick, but he could really only assume that since he'd just been standing there.

"I can't see anything." Sebastian said, as if it wasn't totally obvious.

"Yeah well...," it sounded like Jeff trailed off, "you can't see anything?"

"No, I think my glasses fell under the bed or something."

"You've never seen yourself without your glasses?" Jeff sounded the dangerous kind of curious Sebastian didn't like.

"Not really." Sebastian replied, though that seemed to dumbfound the other male. "I used to borrow Trent's contacts for lacrosse practice, but my mother always criticized us for it. We're not really the same prescription even if we are twins. And it's one of the easier ways to tell us apart anyway. I probably just look like whatever he looks like."

"Holy shit, there's a second one of you?"

"Don't make it sound like a good thing, Jeff."

"Hunter, I'm going to kick you if you don't shut up."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Oh, I can try," Jeff muttered, "it just wont do any damage."

"Naturally." Sebastian could almost hear Hunter smiling.

"Look," Sebastian butted in, "when you two are done spitting at each other, can someone give me my vision back?"  
"I wasn't spitting at him." Oddly, it was Hunter who replied.

"You're like a cat, you spit, it's what cats do."

"Do I look like I have a pussy to you?"

"I don't know, I haven't checked have I?"

"Found 'em!" Nick said, pushing a familiar feeling object into Sebastian's hand.

"Thank you, _Nick_." Sebastian said, haphazardly putting the think black frames back on his face. "Really, the most helpful person here isn't even the one I have to live with."

"Well, Hunter's never helpful." Jeff added, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm getting that vibe." Sebastian said, getting up properly this time as Hunter busied himself with whatever it was he was meant to be doing, "So, tour?"

###

The school itself consisted of a few buildings, but it wasn't as large as it had first seemed from outside. Even if it was two stories or three in some places. And all very _fancy _at that, his parents would have loved it from the start, was probably why they'd sent him here. But the more they walked around, the more Sebastian felt maybe he could get used to it too.

"That wasn't so bad really." Jeff said, coming to stop on a main landing with Sebastian and Nick still follow along behind him.

"No." Sebastian agreed. "I might still get lost tomorrow, but it's easy enough."

"Oh, I wasn't talking about the school, that was always going to be the easy part. I meant Hunter."

"What, was Hunter on good behavior today?"

"Kind of." Jeff said, as if he wasn't sure how much information to give him. "He didn't attack you or anything, then again he does have to live with you."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"He has a habit of pushing people up against walls. And not even in the kind of could be sexy way, more the, he forgot to get new steroids and is in a bad mood sort of way."

"So we live with a drug addict." Some secrets perhaps were better learned on your own, Sebastian supposed, but that didn't sound like one of them.

"More or less." Jeff said, pulling on his jacket. "I got in trouble for it once, but that was a while ago. The school knows, but doesn't really do anything to stop it. He doesn't share with anyone on campus, so I guess they figure it's a contained problem. Plus, he's here on scholarship, and it'd make them look bad having to replace one of their team captains."

Sebastian tilted his head slightly.

"He's the lead of the show choir." Nick answered. "It's called the Warblers, they even have little pet birds."

"We don't have one, of course," Jeff added, "because only new members have to take care of the animals. They're cute though, when they're not popping on everything. I'm not saying you should join or anything, but Hunter and I are both in it. Nick too."

"I'll think about it."

Really, Sebastian wasn't sure he could even get past living with these people, let alone voluntarily hanging out with them. And if Hunter was lead? Yeah, no thanks.

.

A/N:

Unsure if I'll continue or not, depends on if I can think of anywhere solid to really go with it from here. Would probably end up Hunter / Sebastian though.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N:

Seems I decided to go along with trying to write this after all. I have more of an idea for the next chapter than I did for this one, so it might seem kinda filler-y. And eventually there will be a cover image, when stops deciding to log me out when I upload it. eh.

.

The next few days in Sebastian's life were sort of a blur. He went to classes, and got lost, and went to more classes, and had to go to the office to 'check in' or some bull. Like his parents even cared that much, they just liked making their problems someone else's. Throw enough money around and you could do it with anything. And now, they'd done it with Sebastian.

He figured it was only a matter of time.

Speaking of time, he had to kill some. Because he knew if he went back to the room, or was in it when Jeff and Hunter returned from the Warblers, he'd get another pleading rant from Jeff about joining with big puppy-dog eyes, while Hunter sat on his bed and seemed to passively watch the whole ordeal for no reason what so ever. The conflicting thing was, Sebastian did genuinely like music, and he wasn't half bad at singing even though his range was stuck in this awkward place between a high baritone and a lower tenor. Just, he remembered public school. And people had a tendency to dump juice and ice and rocks on the kids in that Glee club, and he wasn't about to deal with that here, even if it might give him something productive to do. And Hunter and Jeff hardly looked worse for the wear.

Wait, was he really arguing _for _joining? Blaine would laugh at him, then say something overly ridiculous like 'I told you so', and just make Sebastian have even more of a maddening crush on his taken-self.

Wandering around, Sebastian somehow ended up in one of the older sections of this particular building, that had apparently originally been a house. The bottom landing had four doors, one of which Sebastian knew was a conference room of sorts, the second was something the AV/IT department used, and the other two... well, he wandered over to find out.

And was greeted with what had to have been original building. The walls weren't even so much walls as mirrors with indicate patterns carved up and down the sides like lattice, where as the ceiling was decorated with crown molding that would have looked positively enchanting if it had been restored correctly with all it's rose-tones and faded blues. The lightening at least seemed to be rewired somehow into the chandeliers, though he wasn't sure if their intricately cut glass designs were more or less interesting than the hardwood floor. His parents had hardwood floor in their penthouse in New York, but not like _this. _This was patterned, and worn in a way that looked like it must have been used for dancing. His parents floor wasn't even something he was allowed to walk on unless he was wearing socks and they weren't at home.

He got so caught in following the pattern, he accidentally backed into the wall. _Which moved. _Promptly causing his scared shit-less ass to fall on the floor.

_Ok, breath Sebastian, breath. _It could be a hallucination, right? All the mirrors.

He slowly, very slowly turned his head, and there, a perfect line along one of the dozens of bars up the wall, was a crack. Sebastian grabbed onto the side of the wall, and used it to leverage himself up. Looking through, he found there was another room there, much like the one he was currently in, only there were windows, two sets that looked like perhaps they were once doors to walk out onto the lawn, and far in the left side, there was a piano, and was that...

His breath caught. _Impossible. _

He looked at the wall board he was holding onto, no handle no notch or leverage, so he just, pushed on it. And not to as much of a surprise as it should have been, it delightfully slid into some hidden area inside the rest of the wall. As if this was always meant to be a door, and never a wall. Strange, but interesting. He'd have to read something on architecture about it, because he was more than interested now in all the potential nooks and crannies this school could have for him to explore. And use to benefit, ah, other less school-approved activities.

But first, he had to investigate, because what he was seeing really couldn't have been there. He scuttled along the pristine floor cloaked in silence, and when he stood next to it, hesitated, but only for a moment. The top was long and curved, free of dust much to his surprise, and the pillar supporting the sound box was probably just an inch shorter than he was.

They had a concert harp. _Dalton had a fucking concert harp. _

And Sebastian wondered if anyone had actually ever used it for anything.

He tried the first string. A C-sharp. He could work with that. He tried the second, and was given a D-flat. Sebastian let out a near audible groan. No, apparently it hadn't been used recently at all, even maybe even perhaps ever. It wasn't even in tune with itself. And with six and a half-octaves worth of strings, he'd be here all night. He'd probably even still be here all night if he had his mother to help him, and she knew more about instruments than he did.

But well, it wasn't like he had anything else to do.

So he pulled over the piano bench, and tucked himself in for what was sure to be an aggravating assault on the ears.

###

Some time later, when Sebastian was nearly three-forths of the way done, he heard what sounded like scratching, and looked up. His body tensed. He wasn't even sure if he was allowed to be in here or not, but he didn't see anyone when he looked around.

His first thought was perhaps he'd ended up the side-character in a horror movie and was about to die.

His second thought was, that the first one was completely and utterly ridiculous.

But he kept hearing the scratching. It sounded like it was from behind him actually, and he stood up and took a quick walk around. Until he heard, was that hissing? Confused, he looked under the piano. There was a somewhat upset looking white cat, or mostly white cat given the black splotch on it's front, with wide, green eyes. He'd probably been tormenting the thing as long as it'd been under there.

He blinked and it, and the cat blinked back.

Sebastian had never had a cat, in fact had never had any pets what so ever, as 'they'd make a mess of the house, dear', so he wasn't really sure what to do with or about it. It didn't have a tag or a collar, not a visible one anyway, though he knew some people put GPS chips in there pets now, and if anyone in Ohio had one stuck in a cat, it'd probably be someone who'd send their kid to Dalton.

"Hello cat." He said. It sounded awkward and silly, and he hoped the cat felt awkward and silly, so it wouldn't just be him. He sat on the floor across from it, as it was currently sitting on the piano petals, which really, didn't make sense to him, but then again he'd never heard of a cat making any sense to anybody.

"I am trying to fix it you know."

The cat meowed back.

"Well, don't be such a puss about it." Sebastian said. Then paused. "Maybe that's what I'll call you, Mr. Puss."

The cat hissed at him. Sebastian smiled.

"For the record, I think you'd be better as a roommate than Clarington anyway."

Sebastian looked at his watch. Curfew started a half hour ago. And he wasn't even up to anything particularly invigorating. He was _not _getting in trouble for this.

"I'll be back tomorrow." He said, and left back the way he came.

And it felt, oddly, like the cat was watching him.

###

Having slunk back through the school in the dark, which was far too easy of a thing to do, and he was not particularly coordinated while sober, he arrived at his room with little to no fuss. Though, that didn't last long. He hardly got the door open before Jeff was shutting it behind him as asking a thousand questions at once.

"Jeff, I'm fine."

"I didn't say you weren't, but something could have happened to you, Sebastian."

"It's the middle of the week, and we're on a private school campus. Unless someone burns their hair on a straightener and sets off the fire alarm while it's snowing, I think we're fairly safe."

Jess just gave him a peculiar look he couldn't quiet place.

"Hunter's not with you?"

"I haven't seen Clarington since this morning at breakfast." Sebastian said. Actually that was a lie, they had an Advance Placement History together, which was fourth block, but that didn't count because that was not voluntary. Then again, breakfast wasn't either, that was Jeff's idea. "What, does mister rules and regulation have a bad habit of wandering around after dark?" That, Sebastian could get behind.

Jeff shrugged. "Not really." He mumbled. "Look, I just want to sleep alright? I can't do that if we're not all at least in the room when it's lights off."

"You could just sleep at Nick's, I don't think he'd mind."

"Hunter! Fucking hell, can't you _knock?"_

Hunter quirked and eyebrow. "Last I checked this was half my room too, Sterling."

Sebastian hadn't even heard Hunter open the door, but found them standing far too close together, and for once that weirded him out and he backed up.

"It's thirds you ass." Sebastian added, not missing the fact Hunter, apparently, still thought he didn't exist.

Jeff looked at Hunter then at Sebastian, then at Hunter again. "Are you sure you weren't somewhere?"

"_Yes._"Sebastian said, sitting on his bed. "Besides, you had Warblers together didn't you?"

"Yeah, but..."

"But I went to have a little talk with Trent over our lovely 'kangaroo court', don't you remember, Jeff?"

Sebastian was lost. "My brother doesn't go here."

"Your brother doesn't exist."

And Sebastian was up, and his fist was hovering inches from Hunter's face locked in the other male's grip, before he even knew he'd reacted. So Sebastian kneed him in the balls instead. Hunter, for his lovely performance, sounded like a drowning sewer rat trying not to hiss. And Jeff, bless his soul, had a mortified expression that could have best been used on The Scream painting.

"Don't you dare say anything about my brother _again." _

"Ok, ok, Sebastian he wont. Right Hunter? You wont." Jeff was clinging to Sebastian now, as if that's stop him from using all the things he learned about how to hurt someone on Hunter. He didn't need Jeff for that. He had himself. He had the memory of bruises and long forgotten scars that made him feel as if his legs looked better in clothing than out of them. He might have kicked Hunter, but he also knew, given the other males build and assumed previous training, he could never hurt him.

"I'm going to sleep on the floor in the middle of you both if I have to, stop glaring."

"Wasn't."

"Don't lie Smythe, it's not attractive."

"Didn't know you cared, Clarington. Maybe you should take a look at your own notes."

"Enough already." Jeff said, sounding completely exhausted. "Trent's a member of the Warblers, he can be more than a bit sassy when it's not warranted, and is more than a little sensitive to some of the things Hunter says and kind of over-reacts. I think you'd know about that." Jeff looked at Sebastian, Sebastian only huffed. "Anyway, he didn't mean your brother at that part, but," Jeff folded his arms and looked over at Hunter, "the rest of it was uncalled for."

"Duelly noted." Hunter said. "Now stop playing at being King Arthur and go to sleep. You're getting moody."

Jeff turned the lights out on all of them in protest, but that was alright, Sebastian was used to getting changed in the dark.

.

A/N:

Slightly longer than the first chapter, and here we got to meet Mr. Puss. It's that nice?

Also, has anyone ever used AO3? I'm thinking of putting a copy of this there as well.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for the wait, computer decided to eat this chapter. Might be a bit awkward. :/

Oh, and someone asked - "I don't get it. What's with Hunter? There something to him you're explaining properly. Or not explaining at all." There is in fact something not all the way there with Hunter, context clues friends. It'll all be found out eventually, that's the point of waiting to read the fic. (Also, none of this is Beta'd, so some of it's not going to make sense anyway, because yeah, lack of editing over here.)

.

The next afternoon Sebastian was talking with someone from his economics class named Thad, when they came across a blocked hallway. Which was odd, because the halls had to be wider than the ones at his other school because they were _never _that kind of full where you had to pack yourself between bodies and follow those pockets of space that rippled around doors in order to get anywhere. It was actually why Sebastian had started using a messenger bag and not a backpack, more compact.

Thad just seemed a combination of annoyed and concerned.

"I guess we should go around..." Sebastian said.

"No, it'll be blocked either way." Thad replied, sighing, "People have a tendency to circle around when this happens."

"And what, exactly is happening?"

" 'Roid rage, I'm guessing."

"Hunter?" Sebastian questioned. Jeff had mentioned it once when he moved in, but that was at least two weeks ago, and he hadn't brought it up since. Hunter had seemed twitchy, and on edge at times, but he'd never been explosive. At least not while Sebastian was around. Maybe drug rituals were a scheduled thing, he had no idea, he hadn't seen those either. Hunter must have been really good at concealing used needles.

"Probably." Thad replied, popping his head up looking around. "I don't think he's done anything stupid yet, or people would be making a fuss."

"He's my roommate, I should probably stop him." Sebastian said, the words coming out as he felt the energy drain from his body, slowly but surely. He knew what it was like getting caught in other people's fights, he even know what it was like to be the kid against the wall, or even the one holding the rock salt. Anyway you cut it, the outcome was never any good, and forcing his lunch down, he shifted his bag and starting slipping his way through people. A feat much easier for him than Thad considering his practice and slimmer body.

"Seb, you can't get in the middle of something like this..." Thad said, moving behind him. It was weird, Sebastian didn't even notice people letting him through or if they didn't, him just moving around. He needed to see this, something deep in his gut told him he needed to. And he had no idea why.

And then the cracking started, loud and sicking, and Sebastian wanted to toss his lunch up even though that was hours ago, but it didn't stop his movement from being startled, even if he couldn't see anything yet. Just two blobs, and one based on height and build alone, just about had to be Hunter.

Sebastian felt like the world was turning oddly, sort of like bad strobe lights in a club, everything felt very far away and the words were all distorted the closer he got. And then it seemed he had gotten there, Thad, gripping his shoulder to pull him back into the mob of people.

"What do you think you're doing?" Thad hissed into his ear.

And then Sebastian realized, he had no idea what he was meant to be doing, just that maybe he should throw up. Perhaps even on Hunter, because g-d, he'd hate that his hair would be ruined and he'd curse for weeks about it.

He swallowed air, and shifted his bag, looking up, to find that in fact Hunter had someone against a wall, held up by their jacket collar alone, and muttering something about... pencils? Sebastian wasn't really sure, his ears were ringing. The other male, it looked to Sebastian, to maybe be one of the others from their History class actually, but he couldn't be sure since they probably sat somewhere behind him.

Sebastian felt like a deer in the middle of the road, and he wasn't even involved, he was just standing there watching. And then something happened, Sebastian wasn't sure what, but if he had to guess, the other male had spit on Hunter. Which turned to be a poor move, because Hunter just about tossed him towards the ground like he was doll, the body hitting with a surprising amount of force, and with the crackling sound that followed, Sebastian was sure Hunter just broke something, or at least heavy bruised, the other student.

And that time, Sebastian couldn't fight it anymore. He turned and bolted for what he hoped was the nearest bathroom. Leaving a confused Thad standing in his wake.

"Seb?"

He couldn't reply, nope, bathroom, bathroom, _bathroom. _He broke into a sprint as soon as possible, Thad's voice hanging his name, "Sebastian!", in the air as if it might stop the worst from happening. It never would though, it never did, it never stood a chance.

Reaching the room, Sebastian tore at the door handle, hurriedly plunking himself down in front of the nearest toilet and vomiting, twice. He was shaking, and g-d he felt he really needed some kind of panic medication right now he was shaking that much, had that low amount of control over his own body at the moment. He wasn't normally squicked out by blood or noises, or anything really, but he'd never had to watch someone get thrown around like that before, helpless and useless and _unable to do a damn thing. _And Sebastian wasn't sure if the venerability was worse, having old wounds accidentally ripped out and gushing, or the fact he'd have to go back to his room tonight and sleep there with Hunter not ten feet away.

"Sebastian?" The words were said low, and calm, and Sebastian looked up, grasping himself tight to see Thad standing there as if he was approaching a small, wounded animal.

Sebastian turned away, and leaned his face on the toilet. "Does that happen a lot?"

"Not as often as you probably think?" Thad's voice wavered. "I don't know, I don't keep track of Hunter outside the Warblers."

"How is he even still here?"

Thad swallowed a chuckle. "Yeah, I have no idea. Money probably." He paused, and knelt down next to Sebastian. "But, are you going to be ok?"

"Eventually." He'd have to ask his mother for, well, actually he couldn't ask her for anything now, he'd been shipped away. They hadn't even called since they'd dropped him off, and he was not about to open that can of worms right now. Maybe he could call Trent though. He'd like to know if his dog was at least missing him some, poor Jett.

###

"Alright, so the Lucas Critique of empirical forecasting models?" Thad said, sitting on Sebastian's bed flipping through a page in his economics book as Sebastian paced around the room.

The whole other ordeal had ended hours ago, but despite Sebastian's insistence that he was perfectly alright, Thad had decided to hang out with him for a few hours anyway, just to make sure he wasn't lying apparently. And Sebastian just knew, he knew, the next time he saw Jeff he'd get about seven earfuls about whatever the blazes that even was, because if it was one thing Sebastian had learned about the Warbles, was that they were worse than gossiping cheerleaders in public school. You told one of them something, and suddenly they all knew. It was like a weird hive mind. Definitely a negative on the fence of joining or not. Sebastian liked his personal space, or rather personal thoughts, to be unshared.

And since Sebastian didn't really have the ability for multiplayer on most games on his laptop, and this dorm happened to have no television, they'd settled on doing school work.

"It shows a negative correlation between inflation and unemployment, it's the Phillips curve." Sebastian answered.

"Then what's the Phillips curve?" Thad asked, only to be interrupted by the door.

Jeff stood there, almost shell shocked for a second before moving into the room and slamming the door behind him, and hugging, yes _hugging, _Sebastian.

"And you said nothing bad happens to you!"

"I didn't say that..." Sebastian said, voice wavering because he had no idea where any of this was coming from.

"You threw up in the bathroom. Hunter told me."

Sebastian was sure he looked confused, because he _felt _confused. He looked over at Thad, "I thought you were texting him?"

"He was." Jeff said, bouncing back and forth on his heels, "But Hunter told me first."

That just left the question of who told Hunter. And it wasn't Sebastian. Or Thad. Sebastian had checked Thad's first message to Jeff about the issue to see if it was good to send or not, since whatever had really happened in that bathroom Sebastian just wanted to leave there and let die. He'd only let Thad tell Jeff, because he wanted a buffer to prove he wasn't by himself. Jeff was like a hen sometimes, and Sebastian didn't like being plucked at right now.

Sebastian only raised an eyebrow. "What, are you his conscience or something?"

"A bit." Jeff said, giving a very weak and uneasy smile before landing flat on his feet. "You're ok though right?"

"_Yes_." Sebastian said, gritting his teeth. He'd be better if people dropped the issue and stopped poking holes at bad memories. He ran a hand over his hair and sat down the on the edge of his bed. "Don't you merry bunch of men have a choir practice to go to?"

Thad looked at Jeff, and Jeff looked at Thad as if maybe the other had the answer.

Jeff was the one who answered. "Actually, because of Hunter's issue we're on our own tonight. He'll be put on probation for a few days, but I wouldn't expect it to last long."

"Or for him to care." Thad added. "He'll just show up and seethe in a corner. Then give us twice as many critiques the next time."

"You're doing a really poor job of selling this club right now, tigers." Sebastian replied. It sounded like nothing was what it seemed in music-land, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, since the few time he had listened to practice, generally through the door since he wasn't about to show his face in there, they hadn't sounded too bad.

Jeff shook his head. "Warblers, Seb, Warblers. We're birds."

###

Eventually Jeff and Thad did wander off to Warblers practice, probably under the pretense that they didn't want Sebastian ratting them out, even though he'd never bother with that unless he really needed blackmail for something. Wasn't like he'd be able to prove they skipped anyway if they did. So while he was alone for a little bit, he wandered around the halls while on the phone with his brother. He hadn't always had the habit of needing to move and talk at the same time, but right now, he felt he had too much energy and nothing to do with it.

"How's McKinley?" Sebastian asked.

There was a pause. "It's been weird since you left."

"Miss me already?" Sebastian meant for it to be a joke, but it didn't come out that way.

"Yeah."

Ah, ever the man of so many words. "Oh, how's Jett?"

"Mopey. I mean, your dog looks like a mop, and now it _acts _like a mop. Mom almost steeped on him yesterday."

"Yours or mine?"

"Mine. Jett lives here now."

_Oh. _Sebastian tried to clear the lump in his throat, but found it hard to go down.

"That's good, great. I'm sure you'll take care of him. It'll be like having a mine-me."

"Whatever, Bas. At least his strays can't think I'm you."

Yeah _that _had been a slight issue for sure, and Sebastian was glad to have escaped it, if only for his twins sanity. "They leave you alone now though right? No more of my reputation following you around?"

"You're a nerd. You're a slutty nerd. No one's going to forget it, but they know I'm not you, yeah." Another pause, and some shuffling. "Jett wants to bark at you."

"Give my dog the phone then." _And pet him like you're me, please just pretend. _Sebastian added silently in his head as he heard one of his only actual friends yap about in circles on the other side of the line.

###

Sebastian almost hadn't wanted to hang up the phone when Trent said he had to go, his mom wanted him to do the dishes or the laundry or something. She did at least chat to Sebastian before hanging up Trent's phone for him, which was weird, but nice. Almost like she was trying to be his mother too.

And Sebastian quickly buried the thought as he sat down in what'd he'd come to call the mirror room. He honestly didn't feel like playing anything today, not really, but the strings were easier to work with now than before. So he just kind of halfheartedly fooled around wasting time, vaguely picking out the melody to _Blackbird _because Jeff had been singing it the other day and it wasn't a song that required much thought or concentration.

And some point close to where he felt like giving up, he felt something wrap around his leg, and looked down.

"Hello cat." He said, nicer and softer this time, petting the top of it's head.

He withdrew and watched it for a minute, just nuzzling it's head on his leg, and he wondered where it came from, who feed it, how did it even get in here, and why _did it like him, he smelt like his dog_. Or well, probably did originally, now he probably just smelt like hypoallergenic laundry detergent and cheap Ralph Lauren cologne.

He slid on the floor next to the cat, and just watched it, and it watched him back. He heard somewhere that cats didn't like eye contact, but he found that hard to believe with this one.

"Do you want me to bring you snacks?" Sebastian asked it, as if it could reply. Jett like snacks. Actually Jett liked sleeping on the deck chairs absorbing the sun like a lizard, but snacks were pretty high up the list of things to enjoy too.

The cat hissed.  
"Still a Puss I see." Sebastian mussed, though it only made him miss his dog more. It rolled on it's back. Sebastian lazily rolled it back to it's feet. "Can't play today, not in the best of moods thanks to our favorite Clarington. And Jeff'll box my ears if I'm late back." Sebastian wasn't sure why he spoke to the cat like they understood him, it seemed fairly intelligent, almost.

.

A/N: Not too much of Hunter in this chapter, don't worry he comes back more the next round.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Mostly this chapter exists for Hunter and Sebastian to snark at each other. And to learn a little bit more about this twin-thing. It's perhaps not paced as well as it could be, but eh.

Also, bichette - little doe; ma bichette - my little doe. It's French. Hunter wont be aware of this.

**...**

The next few days were both better and worse. Better because most things were better than vomiting in a toilet in the middle of the day, and worse because Hunter on probation was quickly becoming one of Sebastian's least favorite things in the universe. It was right up there with red cherry-burst slushies and people who didn't understand how to wear a belt correctly with their pants.

Jeff had been busy since after breakfast, and Sebastian was sure he wouldn't surface again until lights off if even then, and he was really missing the middle buffer right now. Sebastian supposed he could have gone to the library after classes or something, or the mirror room, but he did have an economics exam the next day and he knew if he was in the library he'd spend half the time either reading material for non-related subjects, or mentally checking out all the groceries.

And that plan, well, he might learn something, but nothing he could use in class the next day.

So for now, he was stuck in his room. With Hunter. Who was positively seething at a mathematics's text.

Hunter's face barely moved. "Eyes on your own paper, Smythe."

"I'm learning about curves, and your face is making some interesting ones right now. Who says I don't have my eyes on the correct paper?"

"Economics isn't an art, Smythe."

"Actually, it is. You'd know that if you knew anything about maths." Sebastian said, nesting himself more into his own bed, trying to ignore the other mouth-breather in the room. "But it seems I'm not the only one with wandering eyes."

"It doesn't take a genius to guess what textbook you're reading."

"That wasn't a guess, and you know it. Thought we decided the other night lying wasn't attractive?"

"Don't be a bitch about it Smythe, or a bitchette."

Sebastian smiled to himself, "Oh, I think it'd be bichette."

Hunter raised an eyebrow at him. "You're voluntary calling yourself a little girl?"

"_Obviously." _Sebastian grinned, wide and bright like a twisted purple cat. Hunter might be taking French because it was one of those required languages at this school, but Sebastian knew certain things they never went over because it wasn't practical everyday stuff. And this was one of them. Though if Hunter switched to Italian, something he was considerably better at compared to Sebastian, then he'd be up a mud creek, and quickly at that.

And then his felt something shaking, and removed his attention from Hunter to try and find the mobile he'd lost in his bed with all his other work.

"Hello?" Sebastian said, getting out of the bed, cracking his spinal cord as he straightened himself out.

"You busy?" It was Trent.

"No, I'm not busy, what do you need?"

"Nothing." A pause. "It's Quinn and Brittney."

"Quinn?" Sebastian knew Quinn, she could be a bully and a cut-throat mean girl when she wanted, but what could you expect from a cheerleader? They were actually pretty good friends in her off seasons. Brittney... he vaguely remembered her. He maybe had her for a forced dance partner in gym class once. Wouldn't stop talking about how he was a dolphin or oversize dog or something.

"Yeah. It's kinda weird. Can I meet you somewhere?"

Sebastian looked at his watch. "How long's it going to take, I have to be back before eleven."

"Lima Bean? Halfway."

"Done." Sebastian said, without a second though. Whatever Trent needed him for, he'd be there. He wasn't actually sure about the rules of driving off campus without permission, but if anyone asked he'd say it was a family issue.

Sebastian pocketed his phone and looked at Hunter.

"Someone didn't just die, did they?"

Sebastian sighed, and shook a little, relaxing. He hadn't realized he'd been so tense when he answered the phone. "No, no one's dead." He replied. "I do have to go out though. Don't let Jeff fret over me."

Hunter only nodded, and then ignored him while he shuffled his things together to make, what he hoped, was a quick stop.

###

It hardly took Sebastian much time to get where he was going, but he couldn't help but wonder what it was he was actually walking into. Trent hadn't given him too many details, just that it involved two of his former classmates as well, and as he approached the building he felt a warming rise in his stomach. As if he should be concerned. But he forced it down and shifted his messenger bag. He'd picked it up off the floor out of habit, and well, it had his ID and wallet in it. It did little to calm him down though, and neither did the shop. Regardless of the fact it was nearly nine at night, the small coffee shop still seemed overly packed. Mostly with students, probably trying to get last-minute work done while blogging, but still.

He just shuffled in towards a side a little, and scanned the room, before catching the back of Trent's head – and oh, there were Quinn and Brittney with him. Now he really was expecting an ambush as he approached the table.

"Please don't tell me Little Miss Satan skinned my brother and is wearing him, because there are easier ways to get into a body like mine." Sebastian sat down. "And they're considerably less creepy."

"Bas."

"What, I'm an ass we all know this."

"Public, Sebastian." Quinn added, "School's fine, because no one has to see your sorry excuse for a face except us."

"There's nothing wrong with my face, in fact it's so well-made I got to share it with Trent."

And it was almost true. Sebastian was maybe a breath taller, greener eyes and perhaps had a thinner neck than Trent, while Trent didn't have as many freckles as Sebastian and he managed to stick more gel in his hair than his brother since his was longer. The biggest, easiest difference to spot wasn't even biological – it was Sebastian's glasses, verse Trent's lack of them.

Brittney was quiet, as if something was wrong with the air almost, and suddenly she leaned over the table as if it was completely normal and sniffed Sebastian. "You smell like a cat."

"Didn't you keep comparing me to aquatic animals last time?"

"Yes, but now you smell like a cat."

"Britt, sit down." Quinn said, tugging on the other blond girl and pulling her clumsily back into the chair. "Seriously, it's a wonder I let any of you in public."

"We're just that charming, _Lucy." _Sebastian said, leaning as far back in his chair as humanely possible as to avoid getting kicked. Her expression could have lit the building on fire. And even if she did, this, this was nice. It was stupid and ridiculous, but it was nice. And Sebastian hadn't realized how much he'd really missed all their antics since having to transfer. He'd been too busy to notice before.

"So what did you need me for, this is wonderful and all, but I only have so much gas to waste."

Or money, for that matter. Since he wasn't living at home, he probably wouldn't get getting much added into his accounts anymore. What an ugly, uncomfortable thought.

###

Hunter was restless, utterly restless. The mathematics wasn't that difficult, but he hadn't been sleeping well the past few days and it was wearing down his nerves considerably. He thought about the needles. He had a small refrigerator for them actually, tucked in the base of the closet, so close, so very close. He bit the inside of his mouth hard enough to bleed. He had to wait. He promised Jeff he wouldn't do this. Not needlessly, not as much as before. But he felt slowly, he was running out of time, and he wasn't entirely sure why. Withdrawing probably, if he was honest, he always had delusions then, but something was different than before, and he was terrified to face his reality.

###

Sebastian had not in fact made it back before lights off, and creeping into his dorm, he found not only dark, but also empty. Which was odd, then again, Nick was probably keeping Jeff occupied. Hunter... well, he just would have to not think about him.

Though he had left the window partly opened, weirdo. Sebastian shut it, and wrapped himself up to go to sleep. Because _damn it Hunter, now the room was cold._

###

The next morning at breakfast Hunter was missing, and when Sebastian saw him later on in the day, he looked positively hungover. Jeff however, was not missing at breakfast, and was the complete reverse of hung over. More like hung on the moon. But everyone, or at least Sebastian because he wasn't a blind idiot, knew what he'd been up to anyway.

Good for Jeff, lords knew he needed something to relax.

Sebastian was kind of getting that itch too now that he was more settled in.

His day was pretty uneventful, in fact dealing with probation Hunter that evening while Jeff was preoccupied elsewhere wasn't nearly as bad as the other day. His economics exam had gone reasonably well that day, and he was feeling pretty good about it actually. Now if only he could concentrate on this damn book.

That, however, he could blame on Hunter. And was more than happy to.

"You're saying it wrong you know." Sebastian said, causally flipping to the next page of his literature homework. He was correct Hunter more for his own amusement of distraction than any need to really correct Hunter, the other male knew Italian, so his accent wasn't _horrible_, but the sentences themselves were another story.

"Excuse me?"

Sebastian looked up, and tilted his head. "You're muttering to yourself. In French. _Terrible_ French might I add. You don't pronounce the s's when they're plural."

"Like you'd know any better."

"My name's Sebastian." He said, slow and drawn out, as if Hunter was a very small child with a listening problem. "And while it might not be a French name, the French are unapologeticly Catholic. I'm pretty sure half the population is named after Saints."

"You're not even from France."

"No, I'm from a test tube." Sebastian said perhaps too cheerfully, quickly rolling into his next string of thoughts after having realized what he let slip out of his mouth, "But I've been to France anyway, my father's from there. I have duel citizenship."

"Oh, is Trent suddenly not French then?"

Well, there went sweeping that under the rug.

"Considering he has a different mother, no." Sebastian said, as if it was most causal thing in the world, trying not to give Hunter any attention at all.

"Then how the hell are you twins?"

"Haven't you ever heard of adoption?" Sebastian screamed, he felt frustrated, frustrated that every time he mentioned his home life, Hunter seemed to think he was lying about it. As if no one ever told him, truth is stranger than fiction honey, now grow up and climb the hell over it. He glared, then shrugged into himself. But Hunter only stared at him, and the longer he was quiet, the longer Hunter stared, and he knew he couldn't get away. He shouldn't have brought it up, honestly. It was perhaps the worst subject. Well, not the worst, really, but one of the worst. Sebastian kept his attention diverted, he looked at his homework, at the edge of the bed, at the floor, anywhere that wasn't Hunter, anywhere he didn't have to think about what the other male's reaction would be.

"Trent has a bad liver, they tried to get rid of him." Sebastian said eventually, low like a crack on the edge of a window. "He got adopted by our surrogate, but evidently as it turns out, Amy Burton, Trent's mom, is sisters with Carole Hudson. Or Hummel. Or whatever. And they ended up moving here from Miami. It actually caused a few issues at my last school. We meet in a bathroom. It was undoubtedly awkward, but I'll never forget it."

How could he forget? His mother stuck him on alprazolam for a month, and he had to see a psychiatrist so he wouldn't keep trying to break all the mirrors in the house. And the Hudson kid was on the football team, and if they never left him alone before, they certainly didn't after. He'd gotten this insane idea that since Sebastian couldn't get his brother Kurt to pay attention to him, that he'd better his chances with a clone. A _clone_. As if life were that simple. Sebastian wasn't even that interested in Kurt, he was somewhat too flamboyant even for him, though his gel-coated boyfriend was a matter all it's own. Sebastian bit the inside of his mouth. That was all over now, that whole life was.

"They didn't tell you?" Hunter asked, and it was so soft Sebastian was sure he hallucinated it.

"No." Sebastian said, tracing patterns on the sheets, unable to look up. "They didn't tell me anything."

It was quiet for a long time.

"Also avoir doesn't agree with the past participle, it agrees with the direct object."

Sebastian said, whispering his way up back to normal volume, trying to clear the air. His eyes flicked up at something, and paused a moment as Hunter sat back down on his own bed, Sebastian hadn't even notice him stand up. Was he _hovering_?

"Fuck off, Smythe."

"Pleasure to, only pretty sure you wouldn't want to see that, Clarington."

It came out harsh, and more bitter than he'd intended.

Hunter's face twitched, as if he needed to piece together the meaning of the sentence before glaring at him in a way that would make Sebastian want to laugh if it wasn't for the fact of what they'd been on about. Sebastian couldn't even manage a smile or a terrible joke or pun-like insult.

He half-heartedly smirked, wiggling into his bed, only to get an eraser chucked at him.

"Asshat." Sebastian said, pegging it back.

Hunter however, just caught the thing straight faced, and tucked it away, half blocking his face with a book.

"Cacasentenze."

Sebastian glared at him. He had no idea what it meant, but it sounded like sperm whale in French, and that alone told him he better be insulted by it. Strangely though, it at least felt like getting back to normal. Whatever that was.

**...**

A/N:

Cacasentenze - Italian, literally, to shit sentences. Meaning, Sebastian doesn't think before he talks.

Next chapter might not be for a while, I have some things coming up next week.


End file.
